Apologia

ap·o·lo·gi·a

  [ap-uh-loh-jee-uh] 

noun

1.

an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc.

2.

Literature. a work written as an explanation or justification of one's motives, convictions, or acts.

In recent weeks I have published several blogs to express my unconditional pastoral support to those who are considering becoming members of our planned new parish in Bend, Oregon.

My writings on the situation in Bend has been partly motivated by my concerns regarding the activities of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Baker, Oregon to undermine the hard work of many people to organize and open Holy Communion Evangelical Catholic Church. It is my personal ecclesiology that serves as to the foundation of my belief that a Bishop must unconditionally stand and protect the People of God from any and all unwarranted attacks against them.

After my most recent blog I received a few emails taking issue with its tone and use of metaphors to emphasis some of the salient points I was attempting to make.  To those who offered their constructive criticism, I was happy to write them back with thanks and express my regrets for any misgivings they had with the posting.

As a priest and bishop in the Evangelical Catholic Church, I am committed to openness and transparency.  I am also committed to accountability for my actions.  Because of these commitments, I wish to respectfully offer my "apologia" for my most recent blog which has stirred some controversy.  I do not believe it necessary for me to re-litigate the points I attempted to make in the post, for they are not the issues of concern.  I wish to focus on my usage of metaphors and analogies.

With regard to the "tone" of my writing style I believe that my promise to care, serve and protect the People of God must never be tepid or diluted - especially if I feel the People of God are being mislead or abused by a bully.  I was raised to stand up to bullies in all life situations.  When pastorally standing up to a bully, I believe that I must do so standing grounded in faith, commitment and resolve and sometimes it is necessary to employ blunt and honest language.  It was my hope my words would serve to holding up a mirror to Bishop Cary's statements for rational analysis and I believe that I was somewhat successful in doing so.  Over the course of nearly twenty years in public ministry, I have authored several pastoral letters covering a wide range of topics.  I would invite anyone to read these Letters to evaluate my tone of my writing style.  I hope that any who does this will experience that I attempt to write from my faith and heart.

With regard to my choice of the Kool-Aid metaphor, it was becoming obvious that as we move closer to the weekend of June 6th and the opening our mission parish, Bishop Cary had escalated his misapplications of ecclesiology.  As these escalations continued to grow, it became obvious that the ultimate threat which Bishop Cary could employ would be public excommunications of any person who chose to visit our mission parish.  I choose the absurdity of the Kool-Aid metaphor to emphasize the absurdity of threatening anyone with excommunication.  The idea that Bishop Cary would "spike" the altar wine in his parishes was not my intention.  Could I have applied a slightly less provocative metaphor and analogy?  In hindsight, I could have.  My goal was to use absurdity to counter absurdity in the same manner in which fire fighters who fight forest fires by employing suppression fires.

For those who felt that my application of metaphors and analogies were inappropriate, I extend my apologies and will endeavor to be more conscious of their use in future writings.

Thank you for your consideration.